Iran has executed a nuclear scientist for spying for the US

Iranian
scientist Shahram Amiri speaks with journalists as he arrives at
the Imam Khomini airport in Tehran, July 15,
2010.REUTERS/Raheb
Homavandi

Iran has executed an Iranian nuclear scientist detained in 2010
when he returned home from the United States, after a court
convicted him of spying for Washington, a spokesman for the
judiciary said on Sunday.

"Through his connection with the United States, (Shahram) Amiri
gave vital information about the country to the enemy,"
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told a weekly news conference, state
news agency IRNA reported.

Mohseni Ejei said a court had sentenced Amiri to death and the
sentence had been upheld by Iran's Supreme court, IRNA said.

Amiri, a university researcher working for Iran's Atomic Energy
Organization, disappeared during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in
2009, and later surfaced in the United States. But he returned to
Iran in 2010 and received a hero's welcome before being arrested.

A U.S. official said in 2010 that Washington had received "useful
information" from Amiri.

Iran had accused the CIA of kidnapping Amiri. U.S. officials said
Amiri had been free to come and go as he pleased, and that he may
have returned because of pressures on his family in Iran.

Amiri had denied this, saying "my family had no problems". In a
video aired by Iranian state TV in 2010, Amiri said he had fled
from U.S. agents.

Iran, the United States and five other world powers reached a
landmark deal last year, under which Iran agreed to limit its
nuclear program in such a way as to ensure it cannot develop
nuclear weapons in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by John Stonestreet and
Alexandra Hudson)

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